HEALTH TABLET TRICKS
QMy Cocker Spaniel-cross is on several medications — anti-inflammatories for his arthritis and supplements for his joints. The problem is he has a number of tablets every day and I have a really hard time getting him to swallow them. He used to be fine and would take them straight from my hand, but it’s almost like he’s got fed up now and usually takes them, then spits them out (even when I’ve put them in his food bowl with his dinner).
Do you have any advice or tricks you can share that will get him to take them? Paula Cousins, via email.
VICKY SAYS:
Having had an old dog on lots of meds and supplements, including two that needed to be given before food, I sympathise!
My first suggestion is to check with your vet whether he needs all the tablets, and to find out which are the most important. Some may also be available as easier to give liquids, or your vet may suggest trying the new monthly injection for arthritis.
For the remaining pills, you have a number of tricks to try; my dogs enjoy their tablets in sticky peanut butter (check it is xylitol/birch sugar free), which makes them hard to spit out. Tubes of squeezy cheese or liver paste are also popular. Putting pills into cubes of dog pate can work too, especially if you teach a catch game first. Spend a few days just tossing cubes for your dog to catch. Once he is catching and gobbling them down put the pills in some, not all, of the cubes. I never let my dogs see me dose the cubes! Your final move is to learn how to open his mouth and pop the pill on the back of the tongue, but this isn’t ideal every day.